St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-02
HUNTING FOR SOULS"
A. SERMON BY THE REV. It. DE-
WITT TALMAGE.

A SERMON BY THE REV. L. DE-
WITT TALMAGE.
BROOKLYN, June 26.-Many of the
families belonging to the church OF
which the Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage
DID,, is pastor have gone to the country
for the summer, but still the great
throngs of people that for eighteen
years have been seen in and around
Brooklyn Tabernacle on Sabbath days
are found there. 1t is estimated that
about three hundred thousand strangers
have visited this church during the past
year. The hymn sung this morning
was:
Salvation, o, the joyful sound!
TITS pleasure to our ears;
A sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial for our fears.
DR.. Talmage's text was: "He was a
mighty hunter before the Lord"-Gene-
sis x,9 8. He said:
In our day hunting is sport, but in
the lands and the times invested with
wild beasts it was matter of life or
Heath with the people. 1t was very diff
ferent from going out on sunshiny af-
ternoon, with patent breech-loader to
shoot reed-birds on the flats, when Pol
lux and Achilles and Diomedes went out
to clear the land of lions and tigers and
bears. My text sets forth Nin1rod as a
hero when it presents him with broad
shoulders and shaggy apparel and sun
Drowned face, and arm punched with
muscle-"a mighty hunter before the
Lord" think he used the bow and the
arrow with great success practicing
archery.
I have thought if it is such a grand
thing and such brave thing to clear
wild beasts out of country, if it is not
better and Drawer thing to hunt down
and destroy those great evils of society
that are stalking the land with fierce eye
and bloody paw, and sharp tusk and
quick spring. I have wondered if there
is not such thing as Gospel hunting,
by which those who have been flying
from the truth may be captured for God
and Heaven. The Lord Jesus in His ser
ton when He said: II will make you
fishers of men," And so l think have
authority for using hunting as an illus
tration of Gospel truth; and l pray God
that there may be many man in this
congregation who shall begin to study
Gospel archery, of whom it may, after
while, be said "He was mighty hunter
before the Lord"
How much awkward Christian. work
there is done in the world How many
good people there are who drive souls
away from Christ instead of bringing
them to Him religious blunderers who
upset more than they right. Their gun
has crooked barrel, and kicks as it goes
of. They are like a clumsy comrade
who goes along with skillful hunters;
at the very moment he ought to be most
quiet he is cracking an alder or falling
over log and frightening away the
game. How few Christian people have
ever learned the lesson of which read at
the beginning of the service, how that
the Lord Jesus Christ at the well went
from talking about cup of water to the
most practical religious truths, which
won the woman's soul for God! Jesus
in the wilderness was breaking bread to
the people. think it was good bread;
it was very light bread, and the yeast
had done it's work thoroughly. Christ,
after He had broken the bread, said to
the people: Beware of the yeast, or of
the leaven, of the Pharisees p So
natural transition it was and how
easily they all understood Him! But
how few Christian people understand
how to fasten the truths of God and re-
ligion to the souls of men Truman Os- |
borne, one of the evangelists who went |
through this country some years ago,
had wonderful art In the right direc-
ton. de came to my fathers house one
day, and while we were all seated in the
room, he said: "Mr. Talmage, are all |
your children Christians ?" Father said:
Eyes, all but Dewitt" Then Truman
Osborne looked down into the fireplace,
and began to tell a story of storm that
came on the mountains, and all the sheep
were in the fold but there was one lamb
outside that persisted in the storm. Had
he looked me in the eye, should have
been angered when he told me that story:
but he looked into the fireplace, and it
was so pathetically and beautifully done
that / never found any peace until was
sure was inside the fold, where the
other sheep are.
The archers of old times studied their
art. They were very precise in the
matter. The old books gave special
as to how the archer should
go, and as to what an archer sho Id do.
He must stand erect and firm, his left
foot little in advance of his right foot.
With his left hand he must take hold of
the bow in the middle, and then with
the three fingers and the thumb of his
right hand he should lay hold of the
arrow and affix 1t to the string-so pre-
else was the direction given. But how
clumsy we are about religious work
how little skill and care we exercise /
How often our arrows miss the marx
On, tnat we might learn the art Of doing
rood and become 'miehty hunters he.
tore the Lord"
In the first place, If you want to be
'ffectual In doing good you must be very
lure OF your weapon. There was some
hing very fascinating about the archery
If olden times. Perhaps you do not
lnow what thew could do with the bow